Month: March 2016

The increasing use of apartments for transient “Airbnb”-type occupancy discussed elsewhere in this newsletter has spread to co- ops and condominiums as well. However, because of their unique ownership and operational features, co-ops and condos — and their residents (who each paid significant sums for the privilege of owning their residence, and never expected to run into transiently new faces in the corridors and elevators on a revolving door basis) —are impacted differently. While at least one case, which is referenced in other articles in this newsletter, has resulted in the eviction of a rent-regulated tenant based on illegal profiteering, that basis would likely not exist in a co-op or condo setting. Consequently, co-op and condo Boards and managing agents need to approach transient occupancy differently than do rental building owners.

So you just discovered one of your tenants is subletting, be it through HOA, other tenants, or from an alert from our service. There are a number of potential next steps – depending on how much of a nuisance and liability is posed. These next steps range from taking down the listing, discussing with the tenant, or taking legal action to stop the behavior, possibly leading to an eviction.

Airbnb has a fairly large support team, which includes the Trust and Safety team. The team’s main duty is to protect both listing owners and guests, but they also handle cases such as these, where tenants have illegal listings in violation of their lease agreement. While Airbnb doesn’t have a strict set of rules for how to deal with illegal listings, here’s how the process works and a few tricks you can use to speed the process up when you want to take down an Airbnb listing.